


Caved In- Caved!AU Hermitcraft

by ibarelywrite



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: (depends on what happens), Angst with a Happy Ending, Body Horror, Minor Injuries, Team ZIT, Zedaph gets a free Horror Entity with his rent!, i'll add more later but, most likely, of course, unreality, warnings for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26616967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibarelywrite/pseuds/ibarelywrite
Summary: Zedaph wasn't expecting to get a entity within the cave of contraptions, nor was he expecting the strange behaviour to come with it... right? Right. Tango and Impulse take notice, but trying to notify Zed of his unusually unusual behaviour becomes the least of their problems.Inspiration Drawn from: https://chaggle.tumblr.com/post/626559722788683776/made-a-comic-version-of-redorich-s-post-about-an
Comments: 5
Kudos: 46





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my friend apis for fueling this au! also i listened to hand me my shovel and dr.sunshine by will wood on loop writing this, chapter one is short but the fun starts later ;)

Season 7 was in full swing, 1.16 had just hit, and everyone was scrambling to get netherite and new gear and new materials… except for Zedaph.

Save for Impulse and Tango, who visited the sheep ever so often, no one had seen or heard from Zedaph in months. Tango had been inside the hermit’s cave once or twice, noting no odd behavior from the other. Zedaph swore up and down that he was fine, perfectly fine! Despite his shopping trips being done in bulk and for one day every other month. Tango was sure that Zedaph was guarded about something, not like the cardigan hermit would tell, but something nonetheless. 

Zedaph was just being eccentric again, right?

Right. 

It had been a week since 1.16 before anyone noticed anything unusual. Zedaph hadn’t come from his cave for his usual shopping trip. Tango stood before the now piston door, thick iron holding anyone back from entering unless Zed let them in. Tango sighed, knocking on the door gently. 

“What is it?”  
  
Tango rubbed his nose bridge, red eyes glinting off the sleek iron, “It’s Tango, let me in? I want to talk.” 

The door began to lower, lights turning off as if Zedaph was living his life in total darkness. Tango began to step in before Zed shouted, scrambling in front of him and holding him back from the entrance. His purple eyes were wilder than usual, he paused before speaking.

“Wait for the lights to turn on first, please.”

“Uh… okay…” 

Tango was finally let in, following Zedaph closely behind as he practically pulled him into the center of the base. The base was bright- blinding almost- everywhere lit up with lanterns, lamps and torches. Tango’s eyes dilated, the slits growing thin as he looked around, the fake sun even more blinding that he last thought. 

“Hey Zed, I-”  
  
Zed turned to him, pushing his hair out of his face, “Can I ask you a favour?” 

Tango paused, mouth open before shaking his head and nodding, “Yeah, yeah sure, bro, what’s up?”  
  
Zedaph ran to his ender chest and pulled out several blocks of diamonds, which was… strange, considering he wasn’t known to go mining, right? Right. Tango watched him grab a book and scribble instructions into it before handing all of it to Tango, grunting as the heavy blocks landed in his arms. 

“I heard Impy had a bedrock breaking service in the shopping district, can you get this to him for me and have him come over?” 

Tango paused, and stared… How did Zedaph know. Zedaph hadn’t left this cave, he never left the cave, he shouldn’t know, he never-… he shook his head, sighing gently. 

“Yeah. of course.” 

\--

Tango flew into the wide doors of Impulse’s base, the message he received early saying the imp should be in the greenhouse. He shook himself out, the water drying as he approached his friend. 

Impulse sneezed as he finished placing some bushes in the rings of his base. He turned to Tango waving and jogging over, sniffling before smiling back. 

“Hey bud! What’s up, you said you wanted to talk about Zedaph-”

Tango plopped down, leaning against one of the ledges, mumbling under his breath.

“Something’s wrong with Zedaph. Like… he’s acting weird, super weird.” 

Impulse shrugged, “It’s Zedaph, he’s always odd-”  
  
“No man, like… weirder than usually. He kept all the lights off until I came over. How does he live in the dark? That makes no sense… and his base is stupid bright too when he turned on all the lights, and he wanted me to- I dunno!”

Impulse sat down besides him, watching the blonde kick some stray pebbles, before perking up.

“Oh yeah, and he’s like wicked rich now, and oh-”

Tango pulled out the few diamond blocks and book, handing it to Impulse, the imp opening the book to… not Zed’s handwriting. This handwriting was inordinately clean and spaced evenly, a complete 180 from Zedaph’s scribbly, half-cursive handwriting. Impulse’s eyes scanned the pages, leaning on the cool grass of his greenhouse. 

_Hey Impulse!  
  
_

_Sorry, I can’t leave the Cave, but I need your help! Can you come and break some bedrock for me in the bottom of my base? The Cave needs room for a new contraption, of course._

_Just stop by whenever okay? :)  
  
See ya!!  
  
_

_Zed._

Impulse scanned the note once, then twice before sighing and standing up. Tango looked at him with a tilt in his head. 

“I’ll go tomorrow, don’t worry, I’ll check on him while I’m at it.” 

Tango nodded, standing and shaking out his wings. 

“Be careful, Impulse?” 

“Yeah, of course.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cub goes to visit Zedaph at the CoC, things are considerably odd already, but things are bound to get weirder quick...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit of a warning for like... zed hearing voices and acting a bit strange?

Zedaph shut the door quickly as Tango flew out, running to a panel of levers and slamming every one down. Darkness quickly consumed the cave, save for little puddles of light from pools of lava in the mob farm. He felt a snake like tendril begin curling and pooling into his cardigan sleeve, prompting him to tear off his dark brown woolen cardigan as he walked further into the cave, eyes quickly adjusting to the emptiness…. emptiness, yeah sure. 

  
  


He looked down into the massive pit tucked into the far back of his cave. It was dug down to bedrock, the impenetrable block sticking up from varying layers of the floor. He rubbed his nose, diving into the pit, elytra wings flaring as he floated to the highest block. He began to climb around… which block was the loosest… which block could he break now. 

The darkness was considerably… darker in the pit, the cave was freezing cold, colder than most caves should be, despite being located near several lava lakes and the warmth of running redstone. Zedaph swore he heard whispers everytime he sunk lower into bedrock, as if he couldn’t hear the voices on the surface. The constant feeling of being watched was now normal, he assumed, the feeling of having someone watching your every move and controlling your every action… he’d grown accustomed to it. The whispers would grow louder and louder and louder… 

His communicator pinged. 

<cubfan135> hey, zed, can i talk to you?

<Zedaph> oh, sure! at my cave?

<cubfan135> not much choice, lmao, see you soon!

Zedaph flew back up, slower than usually, as if something tugged at his feet before landing by the lights, flicking every switch on and slipping back on his cardigan over the black turtleneck. He looked around, everything was in place, everything was normal… normal. He sighed, pushing his hair back around his horns, closing his eyes and then opening the door. 

Huh… how long had it been? From the doorway of his cave he saw Tango’s base… there were twice as many towers now, there was something  _ massive  _ coming off the top of Impulse’s seabase… what was that about him moving his base over one block? He sighed, maybe he should get out more. 

He stepped out, blinded by the real, warm sun. He sighed, looking into the sky for any sign of Cub. he felt his back grow cold as he faced away from the cave for the first time in a while… it grew colder, and colder, and colder… 

He turned around quickly and shut the door, staring at the reflective metal before hearing a slam and turning to see Cub land on thick sand, donning his lab coat over his pharaoh outfit, waving as he ran over. 

“Hey! You look better than usual.”   
  
Zedaph laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah, yeah… so what did you want to talk about?”   
  


Cub smiled, tucking his hands into the pockets of the lab coat, “Just wanted to see how you are, you’ve been in the Cave of Contraptions since we updated. Everything okay?”   
  
Zedaph paused, sighing, “Yeah, of course, just busy, busy, busy- You know the Cave, demanding as always!” 

Cub snorted, patting his shoulder, causing Zedaph to jump. Whatever Cub did sent a shock of warmth through his body. Cub pulled back, tilting his head. Zedaph blinked a few times before reopening the door, letting Cub and himself into the Cave. It felt… warmer, odd, he shook his head and took Cub to the center storage area. 

Zedaph began to search for something, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible as he mumbled to himself, Cub not hearing a single word. 

He was looking around, pulling his lab coat around him tighter, shivering in the cold while Zed’s back was turned to him. The cave looked about the same as literally any other cave, minus the massive blinding sun in the roof of the cave (did the sun have to be that  _ bright _ ?). Cub’s eyes trailed to the far back of the cave, noticing the considerably darker area of the cave… he blinked again, blinked a few more times before Zedaph turned back to him. 

Cub took a step back.

Zedaph’s face was shrouded in a cloud of black. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so fucking fueled right now, y'all don't understand.


End file.
